A Tough And Brutal Friendship
by S. Mark Gunther
Summary: Hikaru and Kodachi - So much pain it's funny, so much shaky love it's sad. My first H/K fic and a good one. May be sequel fodder, but only if the response is good. Remember, this quality work can only happen through your response. Chapter 2 Added!
1. Coersion, The Greatest Emotional Glue

A Tough and Brutal Friendship  
By S. Mark Gunther  
  
"But I don't want to go and visit her!!" Hikaru Gosunkugi whined softly. He and Tatewaki Kuno walked down a sterile hallway, the sun shining brightly in the day sky. "She hates me! She's used me for her experiments before!"  
  
"And you honestly believe I have been immune from my sister's demented play, Gosunkugi?" Tatewaki answered slowly and angrily. "I've had to deal with it since my mother went away."  
  
"Then you're the one to deal with it easier. I'm leaving," Hikaru said as he tried to turn and walk away. Just as he took a step however he was pulled back by Tatewaki's large hand and gripped tightly. The kendoist stared into Hikaru's eyes and glowered angrily at him.  
  
"You are not leaving until I get home. You have defiled my love, Akane Tendo with the pictures you took and you must atone for your crimes. Either you will atone for your crime this way or I will beat you within an inch of your life. Are we clear?" His voice was low and sinister, his tone informing Hikaru of the seriousness of the matter. The younger boy could only nod in fear as he was let go from Tatchi's grip. "Come. We are already tardy."  
  
"Yes, father," Hikaru muttered under his breath as the pair walked along, annoyed at the kendoist's patronizing tone. His face mixed the emotions of a man who did not want to deal with the things he had to deal with. His face twisted into a sneer mixed with a grumble as he stood in front of their destination with the kendoist. "So all I have to do is sit with until you return?"  
  
"That is correct. I must confer with Nabiki Tendo for a while about my new homework deal. My sister needs someone here with her until she is able to come back home and I must keep this appointment. Nabiki was rather cold about the flexibility of this. So you have to stand in for me." Tatchi replied as he opened the door to the semi-private room. "I trust you'll do nothing to anger my sister in her time of rebuilding."  
  
"If I have my way, I won't say more then 10 words to her all day," Hikaru replied shortly. "She's not my friend. Why do I need to be interested in her?"  
  
"Because if you're not, you will be thrashed and sent here as well. And I will be the one to thrash you and send you here. Now go." With that he pushed Hikaru into the room and shut the door. He turned and nodded to a nearby nurse who locked the door behind them from the outside. Hikaru was now, well and truly trapped.  
  
Hikaru looked around the room and saw Kodachi lying on a small bed, her normally pale face now sunken and shallow. Her eyes looked away from his body, her hands lay at her sides. She looked tired. He walked to her tentatively. "K...Kodachi?"  
  
"W...Who is there?"  
  
"It is Hikaru Gosunkugi. I...I've come to visit you."  
  
"Who sent you? Perhaps my brother, sending you to spite me more?"  
  
"Yes. Your brother was the one who sent me. He sent me because he had to go to an appointment with Nabiki Tendo," He said softly as he came closer to her bed. He noticed the bandages on her forearms and wrists. They seemed brighter then her own skin, the gray flesh of her body seemingly having a negative amount of color and life. "I...I've come to spend some time with you."  
  
"I have nothing to say to you," She said softly, turning her head away from the boy. "I have nothing to say to anyone now. I am the rose of no color."  
  
"That means nothing to me," Hikaru said tiredly as he sat down beside her bed in a small armless chair. She kept her body turned away from him, not wanting him to see the bags under her eyes. "I'm nothing, you're nothing. We're both nothing."  
  
"I'm still more then you are. I'm more then you'll ever be."  
  
"Sure. You're more then me. If you're so much more then me, why are you here in this hospital?" Hikaru's voice began to climb in anger and in frustration all on it's own. He couldn't stop it and he didn't try to. For once he was going to say all that he felt inside. "You're a fool like I am, Kodachi. You're a bigger fool because you let your obsessions with Ranma Saotome drive you to this. You're the biggest fool of all because no one loves you. Nobody. Not your brother, not me, and certainly not that asshole Ranma..."  
  
"Shut...your...mouth..." Kodachi hissed quietly as Hikaru ranted and raved. She could feel the trimmed fingernails of her hands begin to dig into her palms as she tried to keep control. "No. More..."  
  
"No. You're going to hear all that I have to say. You're going to listen to me because your brother forced me to be here. I have to stay otherwise he's going to hurt me. That's what people like you do to people like me. They hurt and destroy without even caring." Hikaru could feel his entire body revving up in response to the thoughts in his head. "All those times you drugged me to test out some new scheme for Ranma, all those times you used me for your own gain, all those times you and your brother used me as a vassal for your foolish obsessions. Did you ever think how I felt? Did you ever think how much I hurt inside? Do you ever think that I might get tired of being friendless and alone? You have your friends and your brother but I have nothing except myself. So stop whining. You're the only one to blame for your state."  
  
As Hikaru finished his angry words, he was cutoff by Kodachi's thin wrist planting itself, along with the butt of her hand, against his chest and pressing him against the wall. He looked up and saw her eyes flaring, her cheeks reddened and angry looking. He could only stare at her as his mind finally realized what he had been saying to this disturbed girl.  
  
"One more word against my beloved and I will hurt you, Gosunkugi. You're right. You are nothing to me. You'll always be nothing to me. You'll never be anything to me because you're still a boy. You're a boy chasing after boyish dreams. And you did this to yourself," she hissed venomously. Her voice was low and menacing and yet her breath came out in short jerky gasps. "You let my brother bully you into seeing the freak. You did this to yourself. So if I'm nothing, you're less then nothing. Akane, the one you say you love, doesn't even notice you. What makes you think she'd ever love a little boy like you?"  
  
"What makes you think Ranma would love a psychotic little wench like you?" Hikaru yelled, his dander rising and clouding over his good judgment. "You poisoned him for fuck's sake! You stalked and spied on him! You attacked him and tried to take him by force! What human being would ever want to have you, you demented little girl?"  
  
"SHUT UP!!!" Kodachi reached back to slap him but before he could, Hikaru knocked her back and ran the short distance to the door. He tried the handle and found it to be locked. He pounded for a moment and then looked as he heard Kodachi's scream behind him. His head narrowly missed Kodachi's hand as it impacted the wall. She screamed in pain as he slid away from her along the wall of the room. It was then, in the middle of the eye of the hurricane of Kodachi, that he noticed the room itself. It was a normal room to the outside observer but upon further inspection he realized that all the walls to the room were padded. Everything in the room was made so that damage to it would me minimal at best.  
  
Kodachi rebounded from the missed punch and ran to him, grabbing him around the shoulders and trying to swing him to the floor. She succeeded but managed to toss him to far forward and he flopped out ahead of her and hopped to his feet, managing to jump over the bed in the process. He barely had time to figure out what he was doing before he saw her sailing over the bed in a perfect double front flip. Thinking fast, he scrambled his narrow and nimble body underneath the bed and tried to get away from her as best he could. As soon as she slid out of the other side, he saw her coming behind him. Her hand grasped out to him as her slightly larger hipped body got stuck on a middle crossbar of the bed.  
  
Thinking quickly, he grabbed the edge of the bed and turned it over onto its other side. It took some doing and it also allowed her to move another foot forward on the shiny floor but when it was turned over, the mattress and spring now lay on Kodachi's back, pinning her to the ground and limiting her movement. She screamed and yelled incoherently as Hikaru scrambled to the middle right of the mattress, effectively shifting the weight and pinning the girl to the floor even more. With a swift movement, he grasped her ponytail and yanked hard on it. She squealed sharply as her head was jerked upward by the scared and equally angry young male.  
  
"Now stop this!!!" Hikaru screamed as he yanked the hair some more. More screams came from Kodachi as she began to feel the boy's anger on her back. "I didn't come here to fight you, Kodachi! And I will not let you hurt me. But if I have to I'll stay like this until you calm down. Now will you settle down?" She didn't answer so Hikaru grabbed more of her hair and yanked harder. He liked hearing her whimper and scream beneath him and he continued to do it until she moaned out that she would stop harassing him. With a sigh, he stopped yanking on her hair and merely knelt on the bed frame, not ready to let her up yet.  
  
"...I didn't want this Kodachi. But you left me no choice," Hikaru said as tears began to come down his cheeks. He couldn't believe he was crying. Nobody cried over Kodachi. Nobody. "Why did you make me hurt you like this?? Why did you attack me?"  
  
"You...you haven't hurt me, Hikaru," Kodachi panted softly as her body began to cool down from the workout she had received. "I...I'm sorry I overreacted like this. I...I've not been taking my medicine."  
  
"What medicine?" Hikaru gulped as his body, now experiencing the withdrawal symptoms of rapid adrenaline loss, began to shut down.  
  
"The anti-depressants. The drugs the doctor prescribed to me to try and regulate my emotions. I..." Kodachi started to speak more but was cutoff as a series of sobs began to escape from her mouth. Soon she cried outright and pounded her fist against the terrazzo tiles on the floor as a distraught Hikaru watched her. With a swift movement he was kneeling next to her, cradling her head in his lap. Though still scared somewhat from the earlier encounters, Hikaru could not help but feel genuine concern in his body as he knelt next to the girl and kept her from hurting herself more.  
  
"I...I never wanted...to hurt him...or myself. I only...only wanted love..." She stammered, her voice wavering and shaking as the repressed emotions began gushing out of her. Her voice trailed off into a deep wail as her body shut down itself. Hikaru shoved the moderately heavy bed off of her and picked the girl up into his arms. She was abnormally light for a gymnast of her size and even Hikaru found it easy to lift her to the crook of his arms. She instinctively pressed herself close to him and continued to cry as he sat down in the chair. For a long moment he didn't speak and she didn't stop crying.  
  
"I'm sorry, Kodachi..." Hikaru said softly, still holding onto the girl. "I'm sorry I hurt you."  
  
"You didn't hurt me," Kodachi sobbed softly. "I hurt myself. I did this to myself. You just drove it home. You made it clear to me again."  
  
"But I didn't have to do it like this."  
  
"No you didn't. But I'm glad you did." At that she flung her arms higher on Hikaru's neck and straddled his hips, hugging him tightly. For a moment, Hikaru stopped and thought rationally about what he was doing and then threw rational thought out the window as he hugged her. The sunlight streamed into the room, the clock on the wall ticked quietly and the two young people embraced. Kodachi cried more as she dug her nails into Gos's neck and the boy noticed not a thing. It was almost as if both of their bodies were on autopilot and nothing seemed to matter but their affection.  
  
Soon, Kodachi grew tired of her clinging and cradled herself into Hikaru's arms. He looked down on her rapidly calming body and sighed. Who knew he'd be in the position he was in? Who knew he'd be comfortable with the girl in his arms. "Kodachi, I need to turn your bed back over to put you back in it." His voice was regret laden and quiet but he held his ground, determined not to let his own fragile guard down.  
  
"I'll let you go only if you come to bed with me." The quiet determination in her voice shocked Hikaru and he looked into her eyes just as she looked into his. Shock met calm and calm backed shock down.  
  
"But we barely know one another..."  
  
"And you're holding me here. I want you to continue holding me in the bed." Kodachi's voice stayed crisp and firm, yet it was saturated in her trademarked sultry swagger. His loins began to shake as he slid out of the chair and placed her in the seat. As he walked to the bed and turned over the frame and mattress, his mind glanced and skimmed over the combinations of things that could happen to him in the next few minutes. None of them looked appealing. As soon as the bed was reset he looked at the girl and nodded.  
  
"Yes. Yes I will hold you in your bed." Kodachi nodded and walked shakily to her bed, sitting down and sliding to the other side as she lay out on her side. With a shaky gulp, the younger boy slid in next to her and places his hands at his side. For a long moment they merely looked at one another. Neither wanted to move yet they both knew something was going to happen. Kodachi broke the stalemate and places her hand on his tummy. Hikaru gasped and sighed softly, resigning his fate. He slid his arms around her athletic waist and back and pulled her into his embrace.  
  
She matched his actions and for a long time they lay on their sides, not speaking or doing anything else. Kodachi looked into his soft brown eyes and noticed that he was more handsome then people realized. He was still ugly but even in his ugliness a childlike beauty shone through the surface. As she looked at him, he noticed the little details in her face. The worry line on her face, the bags underneath her eyes, the matured tilt of her chin and jaw, he saw it all. They both saw in one another things they had never seen before or wanted to see. They didn't want to stop looking.  
  
"You're beautiful..." Hikaru breathed softly, his voice barely more then a whisper.  
  
"And you're less ugly then I thought," Kodachi replied, her cheeks reddening again. He blushed as well and then smiled softly. He had weathered the storms, so he thought.  
  
"Gee, thanks."  
  
"No, I mean it. I...I know girls have called you ugly before but you're really not. You're not attractive but you're not ugly. You're just plain," Kodachi murmured as her hand traced along his shirt and chest. He shivered and blanched slightly as he watched her hand play on his surface. Try as he might, Hikaru could not shake the feeling that he was on a barrel with no paddle and he was floating down a river to a high waterfall. He knew he was in trouble if that sort of thing kept up. So with a slight resignation he slid his hand to hers and stopped it from going any further.  
  
"Please stop, Kodachi. We don't even know each other to be doing this." Even as the words left his mouth, he could feel the stirring in his loins erupt yet again. He couldn't help looking and seeing her body and her face and wanting to let her have his way with him. "And what about your brother? What would he say if he saw us like this?"  
  
"He would say that he wouldn't mind if both of you did this at the Kuno mansion. Which I don't," said a voice from the doorway. Both heads popped up and looked at the doorway, the imposing figure of Tatewaki Kuno being filled in the frame. He stood in the doorway with a smile on his face and a knowing look on his cheeks. "My appointment with Nabiki Tendo ended far sooner then expected and I came to see how my little sister has come along."  
  
"Thank you for caring so much about me brother, but I'm busy. Hikaru will be out soon so please close the door." Kodachi laid her head on Hikaru's arm and chest, snuggling close to him as best she could. Before Hikaru could get a word in edgewise, the door closed and he was left alone again with Kodachi. Seeing the futility of his situation, he sighed and cuddled closer to the gymnast and exhaled more pent up air in his lungs.  
  
"So I guess you planned this all along, Kodachi..." Hikaru said softly, his voice low and sullen.  
  
"No."  
  
"Then why did you attack me?"  
  
"Because you angered me. You angered me and I lost control. And you defeated me, albeit trying to protect yourself." Kodachi answered calmly. She nuzzled closer to Hikaru's warmth and smiled. "I've never had someone care for me enough to stop me. I want you to be my friend. Will you be my friend?"  
  
"Do I have any choice?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Figures." Hikaru sighed and looked down into Kodachi's peaceful face. She looked so calm, so peace filled. It wasn't in him to say no to a woman in that state, so... "Yes Kodachi. I'll be your friend. For better or worse. I'll be your friend."  
  
"Do you promise?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"Yes!" Hikaru said sharply  
  
"Promise?" Kodachi said, giggling a little and looking into Hikaru's eyes.  
  
"Yes I promise! I promise I will be friends with you, Kodachi!" Hikaru exclaimed as she clamped her grip down on his ribs.  
  
"Good. That's three times you promised." Kodachi smiled and kissed the boy on the cheek. He blushed at this and then kissed her back. This earned him a gasp from her lips and an equally deep blush as she realized that he had finally done something more intense to her.  
  
"I...I think I need to go, Kodachi. I will come back tomorrow..." He stammered and sputtered as he slid off the bed and onto his feet. His swift footsteps carried him to the hallway where a smirking Tatewaki waited for him.  
  
"I see you had some fun with my sister, Hikaru. I trust you did nothing that would make me angry at you." He smiled broadly as the boy merely looked at him with acid in his eyes. They stared at one another for a moment and then Hikaru hurried off, his face burning with shame. Tatewaki merely shook his head a moment and then walked to the head nurse in charge. He asked for a piece of paper and began to scribble a note...  
  
*****  
  
Hikaru rode the subway car and pressed his face against the cool glass. His face had not stopped burning since he barreled out of the hallway in the hospital and into the train station. So many thoughts swirled in his head as the tunnels and lights passed by his eyes. So many worries in his mind. So many memories...  
  
*****  
The Next Day  
*****  
  
The head ward nurse sighed and sat deeper in her chair. It was the early evening and she had had a long day indeed. She would be glad when the shift ended and she could drag her bones home for a nice dinner and some sleep. Just as she began to file some more papers a small voice caused her to look up. Hikaru Gosunkugi stood before her, a small bunch of wildflowers in his hands. "I'm here to see Miss Kuno, ma'am."  
  
"Ah yes. You must be Mr. Gosunkugi. Please read this and then feel free to go in and see her." The head nurse went back to her paperwork and left the boy to open the folded over plain paper. Hikaru's eyes quickly scanned the simple script and took in the meaning therein.  
  
---  
Hikaru,  
  
I have decided to allow you to be my sister's sole companion in her time of recovery. She needs a friend and a companion to help her as she lets go of Ranma Saotome and the grip he has on her heart. And you are the one for the job. From this day forward, until explicitly necessary, I'm entrusting you with being there for her emotional satisfaction. Whatever you both do, it will only be for Kodachi's needs when you are in her presence. I'm giving you this assignment because my sister has alighted herself to you. For you to resist now would be asking great harm for both you and I. So do not resist this. You cannot stop my sister's desires or her needs. Who knows? You may find a delight in being hers as well as her being yours.  
  
Just do not hurt her. If you do, you will be beaten until you cannot move. Pure and simple.  
  
Tatewaki Kuno  
---  
  
Hikaru smiled as he folded the letter up and put it into his pocket. Nothing ever changed. The Kunos both thought he was their vassal and he could do very little about it. But the nice thing was that he could see something interesting at the end of this road. For once, he didn't feel any trepidation along the road he was to walk. It felt nice to be totally confident again, even if there was a bit of fear behind it.  
  
Hikaru turned the corner and walked down to Kodachi's room. A smile permeated his face and a spring was evident in his step. The observer would notice also that he seemed to be wearing a pair of shin guards over his pants. Thus was the state of the their friendship. 


	2. Psychologists, Extortionists and Cricket...

"So, Gosunkugi has been babysitting your sister?" Nabiki asked Tatewaki Kuno lightly, her hands resting over the cup of tea she was nursing. Both young people were sitting in a small, out of the way coffee shop. Both had small pads of paper and pens in front of their teacups. Both hated every minute of being with one another.  
  
"Yes. It was the only way I could assure that I would be able to meet with you and know my sister would not be in peril." Tatewaki sighed as he looked over his shoulder, out of the window of the small shop onto the brightly lit midday sky. His hands idly spun the pen he wrote with in his fingertips as he spoke. "Normally during the midday, she would be finding a new way to seduce Ranma Saotome or practicing her gymnastics with the team at her school. Since she is away from both of those things, I didn't want her to lose herself in the loneliness of being away from what hurt her..."  
  
"So you decided to play matchmaker with someone I used to take pictures for me?" Nabiki asked lightly, her face showing a calm fury behind her serene expression. "What gave you that right, Kuno?"  
  
"The name is Tatewaki and what gave me that right, as you so glibly put it, was the fact that you have used my obsession for both Ranma and your sister to fund your household. You used me, now I'm using you." The kendoist smiled a nasty smile to the middle Tendo as she sipped at her tea. "You're just angry because your grip has been loosened on the school at my sister's benefit."  
  
"And why shouldn't I be?" Nabiki's sharp words pierced the air like a knife. "All you could have done was come to me and told me the problem and I would have solved it for you."  
  
"For a price..."  
  
"Do you honestly think I'd do anything for you, for free?"  
  
"Even after I offered to help your family, Nabiki? Even after I offered to give you more then you could ever need?" Tatewaki said with a sad smile. Nabiki's frosted over face blanched with the innuendo behind his words and she looked at him with a tight expression.  
  
"Please. Don't. Not here. And not now."  
  
"Then when, Nabiki? When you've stripped me of all my money? When your sister is married off? When will you ever take time out to take care of yourself?" Tatewaki glanced at his watch and saw the hour hand creeping to a critical point. "I must go. We'll continue this soon. Make an appointment with me tomorrow at school."  
  
"It'll cost you."  
  
"It always does." Tatewaki stood up and gathered his things. With a slight bow at his waist, he left the table leaving Nabiki alone to collect her thoughts. A tear ran down her cheek, silent and alone. She could feel the shivers along her spine as she watched Tatewaki walk out the door. Her hand touched the edge of a silky paper envelope as she shut her eyes to block out any more tears from falling.  
  
Tatewaki walked out the door to the waiting car, the driver already starting to drive off as he sat down in the cushy rear seat. His eyes strayed over to the window, the clear blue sky rolling past his eyes. He still felt the sadness...  
  
*****  
  
Tatewaki Kuno could feel the eyes of the young woman on him as he sat in the large cushy chair. He didn't like the idea of anyone looking at him as intently as Nabiki did but he also knew that this woman in front of him held the key to his sister's breakdown and recovery. He didn't like to know a woman could still make him go week in the knees as he felt when he desired Akane Tendo.  
  
"So, Tatewaki, please tell me why you're here," The woman said, her hands placed chastely in her lap, a small tape recorder in the lap of her skirt.  
  
"Well doctor, my sister was just admitted to the hospital after she...she..." Tatewaki said softly, his normally theatric voice now cut down to a slightly sane murmur, "She cut herself with a gymnastic ribbon."  
  
"Was she trying to commit suicide?"  
  
"No!" Tatewaki replied sharply, his eyes meeting the doctor's for a brief moment. He then looked down and sighed heavily. "She was trying to harm herself because she had just helped to ruin a wedding for someone."  
  
"How did she ruin a wedding for someone?"  
  
"The boy who was getting married was someone she held a candle for, doctor. She disrupted the wedding as a last ditch endeavor to win his heart or at the very least, delay the inevitable. I should know; I was there to witness it."  
  
"And she was feeling remorse?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"I see." The young doctor adjusted her glasses, her hands needing to stay busy as she looked upon the younger boy. "So your sister was admitted because she broke down internally. Why are you speaking to me?"  
  
"Because I realize that I was at fault as well, Doctor."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"I was in love with the woman my sister's beloved was marrying. I was also in love with the boy's female half, an anomaly I had once attributed to sorcery. I soon found out it was a curse that he had afflicted upon himself." Tatewaki's voice began to falter a little as he spoke. "He was a martial artist and on one of his trips with his father he was cursed by fate to become a woman when splashed with cold water. He changed back to a male when splashed with hot water but for many months I thought that he was in fact two different people."  
  
"...I hope you can understand that this is a little difficult for me to believe," The young doctor said softly, her hands fidgeting slightly in her lap, "considering that I'm trained in the normal events in human experience."  
  
"If you think this is difficult for you, doctor, think about me yearning for two people and trying to fill a hole inside my heart with that yearning." For a long moment neither person spoke, their thoughts resonating inside their heads. "Doctor, my sister and I have both been trying to fill holes inside of ourselves for years now. Ever since our mother went away and our father became insane, we've both succumbed to the serpent of lust. Anything we fancied became what we'd obsess about to try and fill the hole inside our hearts."  
  
"How do you know this?"  
  
"Sitting with my sister, seeing her strapped to the bed at the hospital, it made me search deep inside of my soul to figure out how we could have fallen so far. We weren't like this always, doctor. At one time we were happy children but we've had to grow up so fast. And I feel like I'm falling over into a well of despair..." His breath came slow and heavy, his hands shook as he spoke. "I just want to take something to slow it all down..."  
  
"I see. Well, lie out on the couch and take that pill on the small table. Take it and the water and then we'll begin." Tatewaki nodded as the doctor turned her chair and watched as he laid down on the studio couch. The kendoist felt his body react favorably to the soft cushions as he reclined. The water was cool in his mouth as he drank it down with the small red pill. He laid his head back and looked up at the ceiling. Soon the voice of the doctor was wafting over his ears but he couldn't hear it. His mind was already falling away.  
  
*****  
  
Tatewaki smiled slightly as the memories passed before him. He could see the doctor listening beside his body as he reclined on the couch. It felt so good to know she had helped him. Each session passed before his eyes as he watched the scenery around him go by. With each session the doctor and he delved deeper into his past and his obsessions. With each passing day, his heart began to exorcise the demons of the past and begin anew.  
  
His heart grew weary as he realized just how much he really loved Nabiki Tendo. Really loved, as opposed to merely lusted after. Over time, the sessions with the young woman gave him the confidence to tell her his true feelings for her. He had no clue that she was going to react the way she did. Nor did he think she was going to react as she did when he revealed how he knew she was using him for her families' benefit. It was something he had figured out with the help of the doctor and it was something that put an immense strain on how Nabiki related to him. He had no clue she'd react like she did.  
  
Soon his melancholy spell was broken as the driver stopped the car outside the hospital. He briskly stepped out of the car and walked to his sister's room, his normal sense of bravado and manliness now back up to the full. As he walked to his sister's room all the previous stresses began to fall away a little. He turned the corner to the psych ward and saw a heavily breathing, exhausted looking Hikaru leaning against the nurses' station. He noticed that the shin guards had been replaced by a wide pair of cricket leg pads. "I see someone has upgraded his protection," he observed blithely as he tapped the stressed lad on the shoulder.  
  
"Well she's your sister." Hikaru slumped forward and began walking to the elevator, Tatewaki just behind him. His book bag slumped jauntily on his shoulder and with the leg pads he actually looked less like a geek and more like a wimpy jock. "I found out the hard way that I needed a set of leg pads that could slide easier on that tiled floor. And since you've given me the money to upgrade, I decided to go all out."  
  
"Well I didn't just give you that money for my sister. I also need you to spend a few days with Nabiki Tendo."  
  
"Why?" Hikaru looked at Tatewaki in slight surprise as they waited for the elevator. "I finished my contract with her right before you...hijacked me..."  
  
"Apparently she feels much the otherwise. And frankly, for both our constitutions, it would be best if we let her get her way a little." Both boys stepped into the elevator and proceeded down to the lobby. "She...she can be a bit too much to handle when she doesn't get what she wants."  
  
"Fine. Whatever." Hikaru looked over to the right and sighed a little as both boys hit the street. He slid on a pair of dark sunglasses and shifted the bag on his shoulder. "I have to go home and think about some things. I'll call you this evening to find out when and where Nabiki wants me to be."  
  
"Would you like a ride, Hikaru?" Tatewaki asked genially.  
  
"No. But thank you. I...I just need some time to think alone." With that he turned and began to walk off, his pads still on and a distant look on his normally withdrawn face. Tatewaki nodded a little and stepped into his car.  
  
*****  
  
Hikaru could feel the stares of his peers as they rolled and rambled through the streets, the early evening sun beginning to make it known. The pads felt good on his legs as he walked and the glasses on his eyes almost seemed like they worked out well. His lips curled into a tiny smile as he remembered who bought the glasses for him. Kodachi had been let out for a bit of fresh air and with a chaperone, was able to go and buy some accessories to help her look more like a woman. And she had bought the glasses for him saying they'd make him look good.  
  
He liked the glasses. He liked the feeling of not having anyone be able to read his eyes anymore. All the girls that seemed to swirl around him with their friends on the street merely passed him by, neither noticing him or caring about him. Anonymity had its perks. Plus the fact that he realized his face looked less drawn and sullen with them on didn't hurt much either. The people around him and the white noise they created seemed to wash around him like the breakers on a shore. Quickly his feet carried him to his home and his sanctuary.  
  
When he entered his house he saw that no one was there. His mother's note on the table informed him of the situation he was in. Both parents were out and he had to make dinner for himself. A small smile crossed his lips and he trudged to his room to take off his gear. The steps creaked and groaned out their disapproval as he walked through the upper level. It felt good to him to be home; no one would harm him here.  
  
He sat on the bed as he entered his room. A groan escaped from the futon springs as he began to unstrap his pads. It was a time consuming process and he used the time to contemplate his situation. He didn't know what Nabiki wanted but he also knew that it had to be something big to summon him after their contract had ended. A niggling concern rolled through his head as the first leg pad came off: What was going to happen to Kodachi when he realigned himself with Nabiki? Would she be all right without him? The very idea that he would care about the black rose made him stop and look off into the distance a moment.  
  
A chuckle escaped from his lips and his head shook slightly. He knew he was falling for her and he couldn't do anything about it. And truth be told, he didn't want to. His mind mulled over the last time he had seen Akane Tendo at school. She seemed so vibrant, so full of life. And yet, she seemed to emanate a feeling of failure from all over her body. And then there was also the Ranma factor. He could see the look in her eyes when she saw him, hit him, talked to him. To want to have her was pointless and he began to realize just how pointless it all was. But he still felt her gaze as he pulled the last pad from his leg. It was hard to give up Akane. He knew this all too well.  
  
And yet, as he rose to go to the kitchen, he realized how much he desired the black rose. She was demure, cheerful, soft and very girlish when she wasn't unhappy. And even when she was unhappy she seemed to have a grace about her, very much unlike the girls he knew and saw. He knew she had issues inside of her and the thought that he might have to deal with her unbridled emotions again worried him. The past week with Kodachi had been a mix of running, fighting, feuding and fawning. He was tired just thinking about the times that had happened. But there were those eyes...and those thighs. His mouth salivated as he thought about her but he shook off those thoughts with an oath as he walked into the kitchen. In a flash, ingredients were on the counter and a cutting board was being worked upon. Hikaru worked silently, not wanting any white noise to sully his thoughts as he worked.  
  
Just as he put the noodles for his soup on to cook, the phone rang out loud. He picked it up and spoke into it for a moment. Then, after a brief conversation he hung up the phone and began to make more food. While the soup finished, he set two plates at the small table. Soon the dinner was finished and he set everything up for he and his visitor. For Hikaru had just found out that he was going to have an unexpected visitor. One he hoped would make his evening more interesting. The doorbells rang and upon the doorstep stood a blushing and slightly out of breathe Kodachi Kuno. She wore a demure white blouse and a long length black skirt and her hair was done up in a bun. She smiled softy at the boy as she took a step forward.  
  
"Good evening, Hikaru. Won't you invite me in for dinner?"  
  
"Of course. It's not like I have a choice."  
  
"No, you don't." And with that, Kodachi walked into his house. Hikaru closed the door with a barely audible sigh. 


End file.
